To think the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge need to work on their PR strategy?

[SamanthaBrique]

In recent months they've been accused of being work shy and what's their solution? To release photos of them and the children on a luxury skiing break! Now I don't begrudge them a holiday, but why make it so public? If they wanted to release photos of the kids then they could've just released a few shots of George and Charlotte at Kensington Palace or Anmer Hall. I don't know who is advising them on their PR but AIBU to think they need to engage someone a bit more in touch with public sentiment?

Effing, in the celebrity news community we were hearing mutterings about Diana being genuinely worried about an accident happening. I heard in 1986 that she was worried about a motorcycle accident happening to someone in her circle and my jaw dropped when Barry Mannakee died exactly that way in 1987. I am no conspiracy theorist but it sent a bit of a shiver down my spine, I'll say that much.

There were also questions about the way Princess Grace died, but of an entirely different kind to nefarious involvement a la TV spy thriller, and at one point they tried to blame Mercedes-Benz whose lawyers soon dealt with it.

I don't think the royals had her bumped off. I think she was killed though, probably because of politics/the arms trade. She died not long after Tony Blair came to power. Looking at how things panned out I wonder how TB would have seen his messiah complex warmongering activities in Muslim countries played out with a far more popular anti-war, anti-arms, pro-Muslim messiah like Diana also dominating the scene? I have to say it was politically monumentally convenient for a lot of people outside the royal family that she was no longer around post '97.

But surely, if you wanted someone killed off you'd do it in a way there was more certainty of being killed. Did the driver want to be killed too? Why would she not have had her seat belt on? If she was killed deliberately, whoever did it were taking a huge gamble it was going to be successful.

Not sure I can do justice to it here, but if you're interested, do watch the Unlawful Killing documentary, Inis. You can get it for free, and at the very least it's interesting and well made.

Well given that it killed off 3 of the people in the car and left the other with life changing injuries I'd say it was a pretty efficient way of killing someone off if that's what it was! Apparently it is a pretty well established way of the security services killing people off and the PD accident was a blueprint which was initially planned for use to kill Slobodan Milosevic.

Re the seat belts, they can be tampered with. Apparently she was absolutely meticulous about seat belts even in ordinary everyday travel so for her not to be wearing one during a high speed chase seems very odd.

I don't think her not being killed would have been much of a gamble anyway. If she's survived it would very much have served as a warning.

I covered the inquest into Barry Mannakee's death. It was an accident.

He was a pillion passenger on a motorcycle that was travelling fast, but within the limit, on a poorly-lit road. An inexperienced driver turned right across their path. I believe the motorcyclist was injured but Barry Mannakee was killed.

I can't remember whether the car driver was prosecuted but if she was, it was for no more than something like careless driving. I swear to you that she was not an assassin.

I sold it to every national because luckily I was the only reporter there. No one knew who he was and it only emerged in court that he'd been her bodyguard. So I know they printed the facts because I wrote them.

The conspiracy theories came later, not least from Diana, who believed in that kind of thing.

A couple of weeks before Diana, Dodi Fayed and Henri Paul were killed in a car accident in Paris, Diana and Dodi were flitting about a lot in his dad's helicopter.

I know that because I was on Diana Watch at the time, though I didn't kill her and was sadly confined to the UK and didn't get a sniff of the trips to Sardinia, the South of France and Paris that summer.

I've never tried to assassinate anyone, but it strikes me that causing a helicopter crash is a more effective way of killing everyone on board than setting up a car accident in which the only person who was wearing a seat belt, survived.

Although now I think about it, the security services could have been in the public gallery of Epping Coroners that day, spotted my willingness to flog a good story, and masterminded my career so that 10 years later I was in prime position on a national newsdesk to follow Diana's movements from my desk, as their unwitting dupe.

Frankly, if powerful shadowy forces have had a hand in my career, I feel they could have done a lot more for me.

Yes, if the intention was to kill, the fact that 3 died would say that it was an efficient way of doing the job. I'm still not convinced though. Do we know if all three seat belts had been tampered with, if so alarm bells would surely have rung. Wouldn't the bodyguard who survived have been concerned and suspected something was afoot. I agree about the helicopter.

Wouldn't the bodyguard who survived have been concerned and suspected something was afoot.

He was concerned. Not about a murder attempt, but about the wisdom of leaving the hotel in a frenzy of photographers. It's not that he particularly anticipated a a fatal accident at the hands of a drunken driver. It's just more of a question of whether you'd leave unless you wanted the thrill of the paps snapping you and your glam girlfriend back to your exclusive playboy pad.

They could have stayed there. Dodi's dad owned it so it wasn't like they couldn't afford it.

The bodyguard asked his boss who agreed with his analysis, but said that Dodi's dad was paying their wages so unless he wanted to resign, Dodi was calling the shots.

This has all been documented a million times.

And Mohammed Fayed had the cheek to weep and accuse Prince Philip of murdering his son and a woman who was probably going to dump him at the end of summer, for his own stupid, attention-grabbing mistake.

limitedperiod, I am actually pretty relieved you posted that as previously I was spooked by the whole thing, and I was certainly not alone at the time in thinking that when it happened.

Although now I think about it, the security services could have been in the public gallery of Epping Coroners that day, spotted my willingness to flog a good story, and masterminded my career so that 10 years later I was in prime position on a national newsdesk to follow Diana's movements from my desk, as their unwitting dupe.

Sounds plausible

Sorry that it's a link to the Daily Fail but here's another apparent blunder....

I'm glad to be of help boffinmum. It's rare . Now I remember, it was Walthamstow Coroner's and it might not have come up in evidence. I think a friendly officer said: 'Psst! Do you know what job he used to do?'

gooseberryroolz DH is much keener on conspiracy theories than me. He was convinced this man was a spy. Not the one in the picture; the one in the copy called Garth Gibbs.

Garth was excellently placed as a London-based South African globetrotting journalist at the height of apartheid, but I still think he travelled the world first class at the Daily Mirror's expense for no other reason than that you could do that in those days.

We love and miss him. And if he was an agent, he'd have been on the side of the good guys .

Well, I'm going to add to the conspiracies and say that Kate Middleton pulled out of today's St Patrick's shamrock giving thingy because there was a terrorist threat. I reckon that Wills wouldn't let her go as he doesn't want his children left without a mother, should anything go wrong. Therefore he sacrificed himself as, thanks to George, he is now expendable.

So. Chew on that.

Nah. She's just lazy.

Gibbs wrote: “With that in mind I regard not finding Lord Lucan as my most spectacular success in journalism. Of course, many of my colleagues have also been fairly successful in not finding Lord Lucan. But I have successfully not found him in more exotic spots than anybody else.”

The press were always going to love and hate them, on a whim. And encourage us all to do likewise.

I don't think Kate is work shy though. She was denied a normal life during her twenties and worked for her dad instead. Given how many photographs seemed to follow her every move, I can understand why it would have been very difficult to have a 'normal' job. And there's no shame in working for a family business. My own family do. There will always be people who believe it's easier when your employer is a parent, but this is rarely the case. Successful businesses have someone driving them who eats, sleeps and breathes for the business - such people don't tend to make the kind of parent who tolerates slacking in their children.

I wouldn't work with two very small children if I didn't have to.

William working 90% of his hours while also having some royal duties sounds fine to me. But there were always going to be sections of the British public who would hate these people; they were never going to be able to work hard enough to please everyone. They're damned for existing in some people's minds, which isn't fair.

I can fully understand why walking away from the monarchy doesn't feel like an option if you love your family, even if you'd rather not be part of it.

gibbs

I don't get the Kate hate. And she has lovely hair which makes up for his

I agree with you gone in that it would have been very hard for her to work while being the Royal girlfriend. You cannot understand the impact on you or your friends and colleagues of having a pack of photographers following you around, even post Diana. It would be intolerable for most businesses.

So she was supported by her parents. So what? Her siblings work for the family business - again, so what?

I agree with Kate's mum that there probably was a threat around St Patrick's Day given the centenary of the Easter Rising. I'm sure Kate would be safe. It would have been nice for her to present the shamrocks because the regiment obviously enjoys the attention a visit from a glam woman brings. But I'm finding it a bit hard to give a fuck

I think it's more likely that she's got a touch of the auld morning sickness again and wasn't confident of keeping her breakfast down while standing very close to an Irish Wolfhound.

I agree with you gone in that it would have been very hard for her to work while being the Royal girlfriend. You cannot understand the impact on you or your friends and colleagues of having a pack of photographers following you around, even post Diana. It would be intolerable for most businesses.

What I'm most (shamelessly) curious about is the announcement that was made at one time during the girlfriend years that KM was going to train in photography with Patrick Demarchalier or Mario Testino or somesuch. It was announced but then just didn't materialize. What happened?

But there were always going to be sections of the British public who would hate these people; they were never going to be able to work hard enough to please everyone. They're damned for existing in some people's minds, which isn't faiir
What isn't fair, having sections of the public who don't accept we should have a monarchy? If they're damned for existing in some people's minds......as long as thre is a monarchy that will always be the case. The whole concept of having a monarchy is not only unfair but ridiculous, undemocratic and farcical.

The terrorist threat idea is ridiculous. No way would they have risked all those soldiers and their families for a bit of pomp and circumstance if that were the case.